


The World Between Worlds

by miaren



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Despair, Desperation, Dream Sex, Dysfunctional Family, F/M, Force Ghost(s), Ghosts, Hope, Oral Sex, Rough Sex, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:27:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24331324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miaren/pseuds/miaren
Summary: Ben Solo is trapped in the World between Worlds, tortured and suspended, unable to pass to the realm of the dead or return to that of the living. Rey, struggling with heartbreak over Ben's death and unable to adjust to life in the new Republic returns to Ahch-to. General Hux, having faked his own death, hides out on Exegol as he fights his demons and attempts to come to terms with the role he played in the destruction of the First Order. A force-sensitive, young stable boy named Tieg flees from a life of slavery on Canto Bight, following an undeniable pull to somewhere far away. Unbeknownst to them, Rey, Hux, and Tieg are a triad of their own.  All three are haunted by the same ghost and they will have to join forces to find peace, rescue Ben Solo and restore the Jedi order.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 6
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So for those who didn't pick up on it, Tieg is the force-sensitive little boy from the Canto Bight scene in the Last Jedi, commonly called Broom Boy. I'm not sure how old he was but I tried to figure his age based on when Ben Solo destroyed Luke's Jedi Temple and fled to Snoke. Yeah, just employ suspension of disbelief here. None of this is canon anyways. Eventual smut as this goes along.

Hux woke up in a cold sweat, sucking in deep breaths and trying to dispel the horror of the nightmare he’d just experienced. He’d been floating in a kind of foggy void, unsure which way was up or down, unable to breathe or move. Yet he was sure that it wasn’t him floating in that void. It had been someone else, someone screaming for help; help that wasn’t coming. Hux had dreamed this same thing night after night for months. After faking his own death aboard Kylo Ren’s star destroyer and escaping before the Resistance managed to destroy the entire fleet, he’d been living in the ruins of that same star destroyer on the surface of Exegol. He could leave that dismal place if he wanted to. There were plenty of abandoned tie fighters laying around, fully functional. The sad truth was, Hux had no place to go.   
It wasn’t as if the former engineer of Star Killer Base could roam around freely in the new Republic. His flaming red hair stood out and he’d formerly been the First Order’s most recognizable media persona. His speech before the destruction of the Hosnian system had been broadcast throughout the galaxy. Yet Hux knew he couldn’t stay on Exegol forever. He could scavenge for food among the ruined ships but eventually it would run out. Hux had been considering his options. The outer colonies might be the one place he could go and still be unrecognizable. He could always get his appearance surgically altered somewhere with enough credits but then again, he wasn’t even sure if First Order credits would still be accepted. He sighed and leaned back against the mattress. He wondered whose room he was currently sleeping in, but something told him the high-quality mattress and plush sheets either belonged to a high-ranking officer like general Pride or to the Supreme Leader himself, Kylo Ren. 

Kylo Ren, what had happened to that son of a bitch? Hux wondered if his old nemesis had managed to survive the fall of the First Order and was still skulking around somewhere, obsessed with his scavenger girl. It really didn’t matter. Everything had changed, and Hux had played a hand in that. When he’d offered his services as a mole for the Resistance, he’d never imagined how all-encompassing the eventual destruction of his entire way of life would be. Now as he lay among the wreckage of the First Order’s finest, he felt the gravity of it all and how completely alone he was. Hux knew about loneliness; he’d been lonely his entire life. He stared up through the cracked viewport on the ceiling and sighed. He’d helped annihilate it all just so he could bring down Kylo Ren. Had it been worth the pain?

“Where are you, you kriffing bastard? I betrayed the First Order to watch you fall and you weren’t there! You stripped me of the pleasure of seeing you destroyed Where are you?”  
#####

Rey knew about loneliness; she’d been lonely her entire life. She stood atop the highest point on Ahch-to and watched the sunset. She’d come back after the destruction of the First Order. Rey had been unable to feel as if she was a part of the celebrations and had no interest in being one of the new heads of state for the revamped Republic. Poe and Finn seemed more than capable of running things without her help. Her melancholy state of mind had made her less than popular among the celebratory crowd of remaining Resistance personnel. Even Rose, her ever faithful and cheerful companion had commented on Rey’s growing depression and feeling of despondency. It was hard for her to make them understand that she was grieving the only man she’d ever loved; a man they all hated and loathed in equal measure; a man whose demise they’d happily cheered. One evening she’d walked in on a discussion between Poe and Finn about how Kylo Ren hadn’t been nearly as powerful or as dangerous as everyone made him out to be. She’d stood silently in the doorway while they laughed about his missteps and inept leadership of the First Order. 

“Yeah, you should have been there, Poe! I mean what kind of Sith gets taken down by a girl who's never held a lightsaber!” Finn snorted. “I could have beat him, but I got distracted worrying about Rey.”

“Sure, you did buddy,” Poe laughed. “It doesn’t matter. That piece of bantha shit is a rotten corpse on Exegol!”

“Shut up!” Rey screamed, throwing the door open so hard it slammed against the wall. “Ben Solo died for me! He gave his life to bring me back. No Jedi ever did that! None ever could! You didn’t see all his force ability because he never used his full strength. It would have destroyed everything, and he knew it! Master Luke knew it. Leia knew it! Ben Solo was the most powerful Jedi that ever lived. He turned from the dark side to save me because he… because he loved me, and I loved him. I don’t ever want to hear another word spoken against his memory as long as I live!” Rey stormed out and left them sitting speechless at the table. She was sobbing into her pillow, alone in her room when Finn knocked at the door a bit later that same evening. When she didn’t answer, he let himself in.

“Rey, I’m sorry,” Finn sighed, reaching out to touch her shoulder. “I always knew there was something between you and Kylo…I mean Ben, but I never understood it. He was a bad guy, Rey. He did horrible things. Hell, he did horrible things to me, to Poe. He killed people we knew. At one point, he wanted to kill you too. How can you say you loved him?” 

Rey didn’t answer, she lay still, turned away from him. Finn reached out again, and Rey felt the small shimmer of the force, just a ghosting of it seeping through her mind. Finn had discovered his force abilities during the days leading up to the Battle of Exegol. Like Rey, he’d always known something was there, just beneath the surface. His ability to handle a lightsaber that night on Star Killer had been the first inkling of something stronger lurking inside him. Now it was growing, waking up, just as it had for Rey. He was looking for something. Rey knew what it was. 

She opened her mind and allowed Finn to see everything that had ever transpired between her and Ben Solo. All the force connections, the moment they’d touched hands in her hut on Ahch-to, every single word or thought they’d shared, right up to the moment they kissed, and she held him while he faded away, having given her his life force so she could go on. Finn let go of her shoulder and backed away like she’d just burned him. She didn’t turn to face him. She didn’t need to. She could feel his disappointment and the hurt was radiating off him. She would never love him the way she loved Ben. 

“I guess I understand why you feel the way you do now. I must admit, I felt something when you left the force. I was right above you on the command ship and I felt you go out, like a light switching off. Then I imagined him lifting you into his lap, holding you close, looking around like he was so desperate for someone to help. Then he realized what he had to do and did it. I sort of saw it in my head. I didn’t want to admit that was what happened, but I knew it. I just wish you could at least try to go on, Rey. There are so many people here that love you and need you.”

“Like you, Finn?” Rey asked.

“Yes, Rey, like me. I could be so good for you if you would just let me. I tried to tell you so many times. When we were sinking in that sand trap, I tried to tell you then. I love you, Rey. I have loved you since the moment I saw you on Jakku. Please just give me the chance to show you. I need you to help me with the Force. I want to get better at this, but I can’t do it alone. Imagine what we could do together? We could train up a whole new generation of Jedi. Rey, can’t you let him go?”   
When Rey didn’t turn over or answer him, Finn sighed. “Maybe you can’t even try yet.” He got up and walked to the door. “Rey, Ben is gone. He’s not coming back. If you waste away in grief for him then his sacrifice was for nothing.” Finn closed the door and left her in the twilight gloom of her empty room.

Rey shook that memory away and scraped her walking stick in the dust at her feet. Porgs waddled around in that dust, picking at seeds. She glanced back up at the sky, now fading to dusk as the first stars of the night began to peek through the clouds. 

“Where are you, Ben?” she asked. “I can see Master Luke, your mother, but not you. Nothing from you. Where are you? Ben please… be with me,” she begged the night sky. 

#####  
“Hey, what do you think your doing kid?” 

Tieg shoved the handle to the door closed and leaped into the pilot’s seat of the luxury ship. He had no doubt it belonged to one of the smugglers or arms dealers he saw frequenting the casino every day. He’d had enough of life as a stable boy on Canto Bight. Tieg had felt it for quite some time now, a distant pull to someplace far away. He had no idea how he would get there. Hell, he wasn’t even sure he knew how to fly this ship. Yet somehow, it all came to him. If he wanted to do something, all he had to do was concentrate hard, and he could do it. He closed his eyes, put his hands on the controls, and … that was it. It was as though he’d been flying all his life. As the ship blasted its way out of Canto Bight and into the stars of the night sky Tieg was finally free. Now, all he had to do was let that strange pull lead him to wherever it was he needed to be. He wished he could have brought one of his friends with him. It was so quiet in space, but he was used to being alone. Tieg knew about loneliness; he’d been lonely his entire life.

He set the controls to automatic and reclined the seat back, fiddling with the Resistance ring the pretty girl had given him two years ago in the stable the night he let all hell break loose. Tieg was twelve years old. His mother had been a cantina dancer at the casino. He had never met his father. She’d told him about his father, that he was a pilot, that he’d spent the night with her then left the next day. He’d never known he had a son on Canto Bight because he’d never come back there. She said that he’d been terribly angry and upset that night. That he was going somewhere with his friends and that he kept saying “I’m not a monster,” over and over. He’d stood in front of the mirror and cut off a braid of his hair, tossing it on the floor. Tieg’s mother had kept that braid. She’d given it to Tieg the day she died, telling him that it was all she could give him of his father and that maybe someday he could find out who that braid belonged to. Tieg had asked her what his father’s name was, but she said he’d not told her. 

He reached into his worn jacket and pulled out that braid, turning it over and over and studying it in the dim dome light. Jet black, soft as silk, about 6 inches long and tied at both ends with a piece of brown leather. He felt as if that braid signified something important; like maybe he’d seen or heard what it meant somewhere before, yet he couldn’t quite wrap his head around it. When he closed his eyes and tried to concentrate while he was holding it, all he saw was fire, smoke, and blood and all he heard was a young man's deep voice screaming, either in pain, despair, or rage. He didn’t like those images, so he’d stopped trying to ‘see’ them. He sighed and put the braid back in his pocket. 

“Where are you father? Are you out there somewhere? What would you say to me if I found you? Would you want me?” he asked the expanse of space beyond the front window.


	2. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux, Rey, and Tieg are being haunted by the same horrific dreams. As the triad comes closer together, the pieces of the puzzle start to come together.

Hux walked out of the shuttle and down into the crowded marketplace. He’d made use of an old helmet he found in one of the wrecks and constructed himself a disguise complete with voice modulator. It would be impossible for anyone to figure out who he was. He picked his way through the cacophony of humanoid and alien lifeforms savaging through the various stalls selling everything from food and clothes to flesh and blood slaves. As tempting as it was for Hux to use his dwindling First Order credits to buy one of those, he knew having anyone else, humanoid or alien close to him would make him vulnerable. Though the companionship was something he genuinely missed. He’d never have thought it possible that he would long for someone to talk to. In the First Order, he’d gone from being at the top of his game during the construction of Star Killer Base, down to the lowliest lacky after the rise of Kylo Ren. Now he was just Hux…no, he wasn’t even that anymore. 

The built-in voice modulator in his helmet sensed and translated languages. He could hear anything that was spoken in English and when he answered, it sounded normal to him but came through as whatever language had been spoken to him. He thought it quite clever and was glad he’d had the luck to find it. He purchased some fresh fruits, vegetables, and meat, then loaded up on wine, water, and power units for the generator on his ship. While the merchants were loading the goods on board, Hux leaned against a crumbling wall and watched the populace. 

His eyes lighted on a young man standing some distance away from him near a large fountain. People were walking around this man, passing him as if he weren’t there. Hux squinted and straightened up for a better look. Were people passing… right through this man? He closed his eyes, shook his head to clear it, then looked again. Tall, dark hair, pale skin, black clothes, billowing cape… 

“Fuck!” he hissed and rushed up the ramp into his ship. He stopped at the top and turned for one last look. The man was gone. 

“I’m losing my mind,” Hux mumbled to himself. Once he was safely in the air and back in hyperspace, he relaxed and put the ship on autopilot. 

“It wasn’t him,” Hux said aloud. “It was just a mirage.”

He leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes.

Drifting, endless drifting not in the water, exactly, not in air… just nothingness, no form, no being. He was being suffocated by the nothingness, screaming, endless screaming but no sound coming from his mouth, tortured but there was no physical source, it was all in his mind, wave after wave of endless, relentless pain.

Hux jerked awake, but the scream tearing from his throat was real. He was covered in a thin sheen of sweat and swallowed hard, clutching the arms of the pilot's chair just to be certain he was really in the craft and not trapped in that world of nothingness. He sat up straighter and reached for a bottle of water, chugging it down in a couple of large gulps. 

“Get a grip, man! Get this under control or you really will lose your mind!”

He got up and made his way to the back of the ship. He knelt and began to rummage through the bag of items he’d taken from Ren’s former quarters. There were several old and tattered leather-bound books with Sith runes on the front. He took them back to the cockpit with him and sat in the pilot’s seat. He flipped on the overhead light and opened one of the books. It was the largest, black, well-thumbed, and worn. Hux could read Sith. When he was younger, he’d taken an interest in the language because he enjoyed the way it sounded when spoken. It felt powerful on the tongue, ancient, and full of magic, even though Hux had never been able to wield that magic, it was still there, just beneath the surface. His knowledge of Sith language had come in handy when he’d been in the presence of Snoke and Ren having a conversation they thought he couldn’t understand. 

“Know thy enemy, my boy,” his hated father’s words of wisdom coming back to Hux as he flipped through the pages. 

Hux knew his enemy well. He had no idea what he was looking for, but he instinctively knew that he would find something useful in that particular book. Call it intuition, call it superstition, Hux did not have any command of the force, but something was guiding him, and he wasn’t about to ignore it. He stopped turning pages and glanced down. The page was blank except for a few runes running down the left margin. He traced them with his fingertip. 

“The World Between Worlds,” Hux spelled out. “What the hell does that mean?” he wondered, then turned to the next page. 

“The world between worlds is the place of torment and of forgetting. When a Sith violates a sacred ritual or right he or she runs the risk of eternal banishment into this purgatory. Performing a Sith right for purposes of aiding the light or giving one’s power to another being to sustain or prolong that being’s life at the cost of one's own is the most grievous transgression,” Hux read aloud. 

“Well, what in Sith hells does that mean?” he wondered. 

#############  
Rey leaned back against the stone wall of her hut and closed her eyes. She sank into a meditative state quickly and reached out for the Jedi masters, listening for their voices, their words of guidance, but tonight, all she heard were distant whispers. She was not among the world of the dead so she could only pick up snatches of their thoughts and shared conversations. Even Master Luke and Leia were far away tonight. She wondered what they were all discussing. Maybe they would enlighten her soon. She’d begged Luke to find out why Ben hadn’t passed into their sphere of existence when he disappeared, but even Master Yoda wasn’t sure why. Luke had attempted to contact his father since Anakin had been Darth Vader and a Sith for most of his adult life, he might be able to shed some light on the situation. That had been days ago, and still, silence. 

“Ben, please, be with me!” Rey begged.

A single tear slid down her cheek and she slowly came back to herself, feeling the cold of the stone beneath and behind her. She was tired of reaching out when she knew he wasn’t there. Ben was gone. 

Maybe Finn had been right. If she kept on going like this, she would eventually grieve herself to death and Ben’s sacrifice would have been for nothing. She sighed, and got up from the ground, walking slowly out into the early morning. She’d seen so many sunrises and sunsets here, alone except for the porgs and the caretakers who never even so much as acknowledged her presence. Yet for the last few of those empty days, Rey had felt something building, a sense of anticipation. She had no idea why she felt that way, but it gave her some hope. Maybe the Jedi would have an answer for her today, maybe they would find Ben wherever he was, and she could at least see him again from time to time. Or maybe she was utterly losing what little was left of her sanity. She closed the curtain and went to lie down on her small cot. She curled up on her side and closed her eyes, willing herself to dream about him at least if she couldn’t be with him.

They stood alone together in the Jedi temple on the top of the mountain, near the sacred pool. The water tremored and pulsed as if in time to their synchronized heartbeats. Ben looked down at her, his dark eyes shining and full of hope. He reached out, placing both hands on her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. She could feel the heat coming off his body, the strength in him, the power. It intoxicated her and she pulled in deep breaths, taking in his scent, burning it to her memory, leather, with a hint of sandalwood. She closed her eyes as his lips pressed firmly against hers and opened to his kiss. It was insistent, demanding, aggressive, like everything about Ben/Kylo. She couldn’t determine which one of them was in control at the moment, but it didn’t matter. He was here, in her arms. She held him tight. He knelt, pulling her down with him, never breaking the kiss, his tongue driving hard against hers, making her respond to him, forcing her to give him exactly what he wanted. She had no desire to fight him. The cold stone pressed into her back as she lay down, his large body pressing against her. Maker how she’d wanted this for so long, that feeling of being spread out beneath him. Her body was made for him, tall and strong, like Ben. She wrapped her legs around him and tried to draw him even closer to her. When he finally broke the kiss, his warm mouth moved down over her jaw and neck, his hands gripping the front of her thin nightgown, tearing it away in his haste to get to what lay beneath it. Rey couldn’t remember putting that gown on. It didn’t matter. 

“Ben, please,” she breathed into his soft hair, close to his ear. “I want you so badly. Don’t leave me again, please…” 

He didn’t speak, just kept up those slow, torturous kisses, trailing them down to her exposed breasts. He braced himself up on one hand and looked into her eyes. When he smiled down at her, Rey was overcome with joy. She wanted to scream, cry, and laugh all at once. Such happiness was alien to her. He lay beside her, one hand gently caressing her breast, the other wrapped in her hair, tugging her head back so he could kiss her again. She tried to turn slightly so she could reach for him. She tugged at the loose black shirt he wore. It was the same one he’d been wearing when he came to rescue her. She could see the torn patches on it, the hole near the center of his chest where she’d driven his lightsaber when they fought on the ruins of the death star. That was the past. 

“Let the past die,” she whispered as she pulled it over his head. 

Rey traced the scars on his shoulders and chest, knowing she was responsible for at least a few of them. It didn’t matter now. He was with her. She ran her hand down over his flat stomach, feeling the muscles contracting beneath her fingertips. He stretched out on his back, giving her room to move and she sat up, working at the ties and fasteners on his pants. He kicked off his boots, then lifted his hips so she could slide his pants off. Rey turned, almost shyly to look at him, laying there, naked on the stone floor, waiting for her.   
Ben was magnificent. It was the only thing she could think at that moment. Even with his scars and the little imperfections, he was beautiful. She had never seen a fully grown man naked before, at least not in real life. As she took in the visage before her, Ben reached out his hand and she took it with no hesitation, allowing him to undress her, then she joined him, laying down beside him. She felt like a child, unsure of her movements, not exactly certain how to touch him, but wanting desperately to make him feel good. Ben’s movements seemed as unsure as hers. It was if they were both learning and exploring as they went along.

“Have you ever…” Rey started to ask, but he shook his head no before she could complete the question. “Me neither,” she replied. “But it doesn’t matter, does it?” He smiled and rolled his weight onto her again. She melted into his soft kisses and felt the unmistakable hardness of his arousal pressing into her thigh. Were they doing this? Were they actually doing this, here, in the sacred temple? Was this some kind of Jedi sin? 

Ben, hearing her thoughts, chuckled, the only sound she’d heard him make. Rey clutched both hands into his soft hair as he moved down over her chest and abdomen, pushing her legs up and apart to give him room to work. 

“Ben, what are you…” Rey gasped when she felt his mouth, warm and wet between her legs, his tongue sliding through her folds, his teeth nipping at her clit. Her body convulsed and she flushed with both heat and embarrassment. The very thought of what he was doing to her beyond her limited experience. She had never imagined something so intimate. When she felt him using a bit of the force to compel her to hold still, she cried out in shocked pleasure. 

Waves of rolling heat seemed to be moving all through her, centering there between her legs where he was working. If he’d never done this before, he was certainly not showing any ignorance now. Maybe it was the force guiding him, but when it hit, her orgasm was the strongest she’d ever felt. She locked her legs around his head, holding him in place as it took her. She was still awash in pleasure as he moved up over her, gently pushing one of his big fingers inside her. She gasped, glancing up to find him staring hard at her, gauging her reaction. Satisfied that she was enjoying it, Ben added a second finger and thrust them deep into her. Rey lifted her hips up to give him better leverage and stared back into those black eyes. His head was tilted down, bangs partially covering his eyes, mouth slightly parted. He was breathing hard, clearly very much aroused and needing this as much as she was. 

“Ben, please,” Rey begged, reaching out for him, wanting and needing in equal measure. 

When he moved, it was so fast. One second, he was kneeling between her legs, fingers deep in her pussy, the next, he was balanced over her, the press of his large cock poised just ready to penetrate her.

“Rey, tell me you love me,” he begged, his voice sounding rough with need.

“I love you, Ben!” she cried, clutching his hips and pulling him toward her. “Please, give me…” 

A sudden rush of ice-cold air swept through the cave, a thunderous sound of the wind, a cacophony of voices, all shouting, screaming in Sith…

Rey woke up screaming, drenched in sweat, and trying to grab Ben, to pull him back but he was gone again, and she was alone. What had those voices been screaming? Something in Sith?

Rey got up off her cot and searched through the old Jedi texts for the one on the Sith language. As she flipped frantically through the pages, trying to find symbols that matched the sounds she’d heard in her dream, she came across one passage that stopped her cold. Whatever it was, it was bad, unbelievably bad. “The World Between Worlds.” She traced the runes with her fingertip and shuddered with disgust. 

“Well, what in Sith hells does that mean?” She wondered.

###############################

Tieg trashed about on the floor of the stolen ship, knocking the empty bottles of wine he’d drank the night before in all directions. He was standing in front of a solid wall of what looked like ice. Behind him was a pool of water. He was in some kind of cave somewhere. He reached out toward the wall of ice and touched it with just the tips of his fingers. “Show me, my father. Please…?” Tieg begged. Behind the cloudy surface, he could see a figure approaching, reaching toward the wall as if to touch the same spot on the other side. The figure was very tall and broad, a big man. Long hair a cape blowing back from his figure. Just as the man was about to touch the ice, Tieg heard voices begin to whisper. It was a language he couldn’t understand but it made him slightly sick and frightened him. As the whispers rose to shouts, then screams, the figure behind the wall crumpled to the ground, hands over his ears as if trying to block the screams. 

Tieg watched the figure writhe as if in horrible agony and then he heard one voice rising above the rest, the voice of the man behind the wall. 

“Please, please help me!”

Tieg woke up, covered in sweat, with a crushing headache. He tried to shake off the horrible dream. When he attempted to stand, a wave of nausea swept over him and his head throbbed. Why had he thought he was old enough to sample the keg of wine he found onboard? 

“Idiot!” he berated himself as he looked around for some water. He managed to find an unopened bottle and a power bar, then made his way to the cockpit to check the autopilot. 

Tieg had not really been thinking when he put in the coordinates. It was as if they had just come to him. He noticed the red indicator light blinking to warn him that he was coming up on his target destination and would soon be leaving hyperspace. He felt a growing sense of anticipation though he had no idea why. Where was he going exactly? He sat down in the pilot’s seat and fastened his belt. A slight jolt and a few small tremors later and the ship came out of hyperspace. Before him was a planet. The surface seemed to be covered entirely in water. He scanned for signs of life and found many. As he programmed the ship to enter orbit, he found a collection of heat signatures that seemed to be of a humanoid nature. They were all clustered on a small island in the center of this planet of water. He set the ship's controls to take him to that island. 

As it came into view, he sat up and took notice. A mountain, or so it seemed, rising from the crashing waves. It was truly an oasis in the sea of chaos. Tieg programmed the landing cycle and looked for a flat spot to set down. He found one on the top of a plateau. There appeared to be stone huts nearby and one of them had a light coming from inside. It was nearly dusk, and he wondered what kind of alien lifeforms inhabited this lonely island and if they would be kind to a strange boy. The ship touched down near the huts and Tieg lowered the landing ramp. He ducked his head and started down it. When his foot touched the ground, he reeled, almost pushed back by what felt like a thousand rough hands and he heard those strange shouting voices again, speaking in that weird foul sounding language. But this time he could make out what they were saying. “Progeny, dangerous, must keep him away, powerful, immensely powerful, like his father, must become Sith, not Jedi, mustn’t find… The World Between Worlds…” As the voices faded away, Tieg gripped the bar on the landing platform and steadied himself. 

“The World Between Worlds? What in Sith hells does that mean?”

A blanket covering the door to one of the huts was pushed aside and a tall, slender woman with her hair up in buns stepped out and began to approach him. Tieg walked toward her.

“Hello, I’m Tieg,” he said, extending his hand toward her in what he hoped was a friendly gesture. 

The woman hesitated for a moment, then reached out and took his hand. He felt a tremor move through him and gasped. She gasped too and pulled her hand back.

“So strong... you… are you a force user?” she asked.

“Force user? I don’t know what that means,” he answered.

“Can you do things others can’t do?” she asked, scanning him with her dark green eyes.

“Um, yeah,” he answered, nervously toeing the dirt with his scuffed boot. “I can move things with my mind, and sometimes I can tell what other people are thinking.”

“How did you find me?” she asked. 

“Something guided me here,” he answered. “I’m trying to find my father. And something kept… I don’t know… pulling me to this place.”

The woman looked up at his ship and raised her eyebrow. “That’s a nice ship, Tieg. Where did you get it?”

“I stole it,” he answered, grinning proudly.

The woman laughed and shook her head. “Well, I’m Rey, and this is the sacred Jedi island of Ahch-to. You said you were looking for your father?”

“Yeah, I don’t know, but somehow, I think he’s in some kind of trouble.”

“Why do you think that?” Rey asked. 

“I keep dreaming about him, I think. He’s always screaming for help like someone is torturing him or something.”

“Sounds like he’s reaching out to you in the force. Was your father a force user too?” She asked. 

“I don’t know. I never knew my father. He left my mother the night I was conceived. All I have of him is a braid of his hair that he cut off and threw away while he was with my mother that night. I’m trying to find him, but I don’t even know his name.”

Rey frowned and stood up straighter. “A braid of his hair?” she asked. “Do you have it with you?”

“Yes, I always keep it with me,” Tieg answered. 

“Will you let me see it?” she asked. 

Tieg reached into the pocket he kept the braid in and pulled it out. For some reason, he was slightly hesitant to let this strange woman have the only thing left of his father that he owned, but he decided that he was big enough to fight her if she tried to take it from him. He held out his hand to let her take it. 

Rey seemed hesitant to touch the braid, but after a moment of uncertainty, she reached for it. 

A sudden flood of emotion, scenes of the past, and a sense of desperation and rage swept through her when Rey’s fingers touched the braid. At that moment, she knew everything she needed to know about his boy on the cusp of manhood that stood in front of her. This boy searching for a father who was a stranger to him. This boy with dark eyes and dark hair who was so strong in the force. 

“Tieg, I know your father,” she said.


	3. 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The triad comes together at last. Hux discovers Tieg's true identity and he and the boy learn what happened to Ben Solo. Now Hux has to decide if he will help them find Ben.

Soon he’d be out of hyperspace. Soon he’d know where the coordinates he’d programmed in the night before would take him. He’d found them scrawled in Ren’s elegant handwriting on the same page as the Sith Runes spelling out “World Between Worlds.” Although he still had no idea what it all meant, he could no longer deny that something or someone was guiding him. It went against his stubborn independence to allow another being to have control over him, but at the same time, his curiosity was getting the better of him. It wasn’t as if he had anywhere specific to go or anything he had to do. In fact, for the first time in 35 years, his life was truly his own. He could go anywhere and do anything he wished. Yet despite knowing that, Hux still wanted to find out what was happening, why he was being “pulled” somewhere, who was contacting him in his dream and why he had the distinct impression it was Ren. 

“Kriffing bastard! Probably got himself in trouble and now he has nobody to get him out of it. Just like when he got injured on Starkiller. Oh yes, send Hux! Hux will find impossible solutions to last-minute problems created by other fucking people! “ 

Hux slumped down in the pilot’s seat and took a sip from the bottle of brandy he’d found in Pride’s rooms aboard the crashed Finalizer. 

“Quit being so dramatic Armitage. Nobody gives two fucks about you now.”

The flashing of the indicator light on the console brought him out of his self-pity. He was coming up on the coordinates. 

“Well, let’s see where we are,” he mumbled, as the ship came out of hyperspace. 

Before him was a planet covered with water. He felt a lump in his throat and coughed quickly to clear it. Struck so suddenly by the resemblance to his own home planet of Arkanis, he struggled a moment to push down his emotions. 

“Let the past die. Kill it if you have to. It’s the only way to become who you were meant to be.” 

Hux heard the words as clearly as if he’d spoken them himself. They came, not from the ship, or anyone speaking it near him, but from inside his own head. But the voice was not his own.

“Damn you Ren!” Hux shouted, slamming his fist into the console. “Can’t you just leave me the hell alone?”   
Silence was the only answer to his outburst. Hux ran his hand nervously through his hair, pushing it back from his face. It was long, longer than it had ever been, reaching almost to his shoulders. He had several days’ worth of stubble on his face. His clothes were dirty, and he was in desperate need of a good wash. 

“No one cares!” Hux reminded himself as he programmed the landing cycle, then took a calming breath and waited for touchdown. 

As he came through the thick cloud cover, he noticed a large mountain standing up from the surface of the ocean. A quick scan revealed several humanoid-like figures and two distinctly human heat signatures. As he flew closer, he noticed huts and two ships. One of them was an x-wing class, resistance fighter from the old republic, and another, a newer, luxury single man craft resembling the type often used by spice runners or smugglers. 

“Well, what kind of den of vipers have I managed to land myself in now?” Hux wondered aloud. It would be just like Ren’s avenging ghost to shunt him into a shit-hole like that, far from the civilized galaxy. But there was nothing for it now. If this place had any sort of technology, then the pilots of those two ships already knew he was there. Hux touched down next to them and took a moment to gather himself. He checked his blaster, flipped the safety off, then took another swig of brandy. 

“Ok, let's go find out who lives here and why the kriff I’m here.”

He opened the landing ramp and started down it slowly, blaster drawn and only slightly surprised when no welcoming party appeared. There was a single fire burning on the ground outside one of the huts. The afternoon sunlight filtered down from the mountainside above as it set behind the rocks. The sound of waves crashing against the cliffs below brought back another wave of painful nostalgia from his youth, but he quickly shut it away again. 

“Hello?” he called out tentatively. “Is there anyone here?” 

The only answer was the strange call of the little puffin like bird creatures roaming around on the ground near him. One of them bent over and pecked at the toe of his boot. 

“Get off!” Hux ordered, tipping up his boot to dislodge the strange little bird. It backed away and scuttled into the bushes. At that moment, he felt the unmistakable cold steel barrel of a blaster pressed against the back of his head and a young man’s voice spoke from somewhere behind him. 

“Don’t move, Red. I’ll blow you to Endor and back if you so much as breathe.”

Hux raised both his hands and feigned surrender, but just as the boy behind him ordered him to drop his weapon, he spun and tried to grab the blaster. Two things happened simultaneously. He saw his would-be attacker and felt suddenly frozen in place by what he instantly recognized as the force. 

“Fucking hell!” he gasped, staring into the dark eyes of the boy in front of him. The kid was tall, long black hair, stout build, full mouth, intense stare. He was struck with the uncomfortable sensation of how much this boy looked like…

“Let him go, Tieg.”

Hux recognized the voice before he saw the woman emerge from the hut. It was the scavenger. The girl Ren was always trying so hard to find, the one who was supposed to be so strong in the force. Palpatine’s granddaughter, Rey. 

“He’s armed, Rey!” Tieg shouted.

“He didn’t come here to fight,” she answered. “I…I feel it.” Rey hesitated a moment, then walked directly up to where Hux was frozen in place and waved her hand in front of his face. “It’s ok, Tieg.” 

Tieg shrugged, then released Hux. Able to move again, Hux fought the instinct to point his blaster directly into that cocky kid’s face, but he knew Rey would use the force to stop him. Hell, as weak as he was now, she might be able to take him without even using it. 

Hux closed his hands around the warm mug of soup and breathed in the pleasant aroma. For a scavenger from Jakku, this bitch could sure cook. He took a sip, then reached up and drew the blanket tighter around his shoulders. Rey had shown him to a spring where he could bathe and had taken his dirty clothes to boil them in lye for him while he ate. He sat inside the hut, next to a small cooking fire, and sipped his soup in uncomfortable silence while the boy Tieg sat across from him staring intently at him. From time to time, Hux felt the tendrils of the force pushing at his mind as that boy tried to read his thoughts.

“Get out of my head boy!” Hux demanded, raising his eyes to meet Tieg’s black ones. 

“Why, Red, afraid of what I might find there?” he asked.

Hux sighed and sat the empty bowl down on the hearth. 

“You don’t want to be inside my head, boy. There is only darkness there,” Hux answered, stretching his long legs out and leaning back against the cot behind him. 

“We all have darkness inside us,” Tieg replied. 

Hux sat up and stared. He’d heard that phrase before, at least a million times, falling from Ren’s lips. 

“Who are you?” Hux asked, narrowing his eyes at the boy. 

Tieg sighed and pushed at the dirt floor with the toe of his boot. 

“Don’t you know?” he asked. 

Hux didn’t answer, he didn’t have time. Rey pushed the blanket covering the door aside and came into the hut. She sat down near the fire and handed Tieg a book. It was one of the Sith books that Hux had brought with him. 

“Meditate, then see where it leads you,” she urged. 

Tieg closed his eyes for a moment, then began to turn the pages of the book, eyes still closed, not looking at the pages but feeling them. Hux wasn’t the least bit surprised when he stopped at the page Hux had found the night before. 

Tieg opened his eyes and ran his fingers along the runes. “what does it mean?” he asked. 

“I don’t know,” Rey sighed. “I can’t read Sith.”

“It says The World Between World’s” Hux answered. “But don’t ask me what it means. I have absolutely no idea.” 

“You can read Sith?” Rey asked incredulously. 

“I make it a point to know my enemy well,” Hux answered. 

“What is he talking about?” Tieg asked. 

“He means that he studied Sith because his main enemy was Sith, Tieg. It’s a smart strategy to know as much as you can about the one, you’re fighting.”

“Who were you fighting?” Tieg asked. 

Hux raised his eyes and met Rey’s. In an almost silent understanding, he acquiesced to her to answer the boy’s question.

“Your father, Tieg. They were pitted against each other by the dark powers of the force.”

“Father…” Hux started, then fell silent. He’d know it the moment he first saw the boy. He’d sensed it as well as seen it, the resemblance. “How many kriffing bastards does Ren have?” Hux asked.

“Only this one,” Rey answered, “And bastard yourself, Armitage Hux!” 

“I am what I am,” Hux replied. 

“So am I.” Tieg sighed.

Hux looked up at Tieg and shuddered involuntarily, the scowl on the boy’s face so familiar to him. 

“Are you his mother?” Hux asked her.

“No, I’m not old enough to be his mother,” she answered.

“How old is he?” Hux demanded.

“I’m twelve and I’m sitting right here! You could ask me, you know,” Tieg interrupted. 

“Twelve?” Hux asked incredulously. “You have to be older than that! I’d have thought you were at least fifteen or sixteen!”

“He’s tall like his father,” Rey interrupted. “How did you find us, Hux?” 

“I already told you. I was drawn here. I found those coordinates Ren wrote in the book. I programmed them into the ship’s computer and here I am.”

“Yes, but why?” Rey pushed. 

“I don’t kriffing know why damn it! Something is haunting me! I keep dreaming the same dream, night after night, feeling like I’m suffocating in nothingness and pain, terrible pain…”

Tieg jumped up, “Rey! It’s just like my dreams!”

“Sit down, Tieg…” Rey started. 

“You’ve been dreaming that too?” Hux asked.

“Yes, for some time now. It was the dreams that led me here. I can’t explain it… I just kind of heard the coordinates in my head. I think father was telling me somehow.”

“Rey, what happened to him?” Hux demanded. 

“You don’t know?” she asked. 

“I was playing dead in the medical bay of the Finalizer when it went down. I have no idea. I only know the Sith were defeated and when they fell, the Order went down with them.”

Rey frowned and her eyes filled with tears. She sighed and leaned back against the same cot Hux was leaning against. 

“I need to tell Tieg this story to. He knows his father’s name. I had time to tell him that much. I also told him that his father fell to the dark side, but I never had time to tell him what happened at the end.”

Rey took a deep breath, then told them both everything that had ever transpired between her and Kylo Ren/Ben Solo. She explained the force bond, the dyad in the force, and how Ben had given his life to save hers at the end. 

“He was severely injured from the fall into the pit. I think he knew he was dying. He might have been able to survive if he’d left me there. I don’t know. But he made the decision to give his life force to save me. I held his hand as he left this world. I… I wish…” Rey turned her head away and a tear slid down her face.

Tieg was sober, staring silently into the fire. He looked up at Rey. “Can you show me?” he asked, hopefully. “Let me see what you just talked about.”

Rey nodded and reached out for Tieg’s hand. Hux sat up, watching closely.

“Can you show me too?” he wondered aloud.

Rey didn’t answer, just closed her eyes and reached her other hand out to him. Hux took it.

When he woke up, the sunlight was blaring in his face and the fire pit was smoking. It appeared to be mid-morning. Rey was nowhere in sight. He clearly recalled the events from the night before, feeling the force flowing through him as she showed him his mortal enemy's last moments of life. Hux should have been reeling with joy at Ren’s fall, but all he felt was a kind of disappointing emptiness. It wasn’t Kylo Ren who died in that place. It was Ben Solo and Ben Solo had never been his enemy. 

“Damn you, Ren!” Hux mumbled, sitting up and shaking the sleep away. “Had to rob me of the pleasure of watching you die as well, didn’t you?” 

Hux noticed his clothes, clean and dry, and folded on a chair next to him. He got up, splashed water from the jar on the table on his face, then got dressed, ran his fingers through his hair, and stepped outside. 

Tieg was standing a few feet away at the edge of the cliff, a lightsaber ignited in his hand, working through the motions of what looked to Hux like a choreographed dance. Hux knew better. It was a dance of death. The boy was learning how to use a saber. It made Hux nervous. This boy could be twisted and made into something cruel and evil like his father so easily. But he knew Rey wouldn’t allow it. Ben Solo had been unguarded as a child. Tieg had Rey.

“She won’t let that happen,” Hux mumbled. 

Sensing Hux approaching, Tieg extinguished the saber and clipped it to his belt. He turned to face Hux. 

“You look just like him,” Hux stated, watching the way the light played in the boy’s dark eyes. He’d always been jealous of Ren’s strength, his powers, his physical beauty. This boy would have all those things and more but Tieg would be free of the pain Ren had carried all his life. 

“Do I? Tieg asked, hopefully, then his face darkened. “You hated my father.”

“I hated Kylo Ren,” Hux sighed. “But Ben Solo was your father. I have no fight with him.”

Hux sat down on a rock and looked around him. The island was beautiful, peaceful. Since he’d landed, he’d felt that peacefulness seeping into his body and into his very soul. In this place, he was just Armitage Hux. He had no responsibilities, no career, no devious plans to enact. He should be bored out of his mind, but he found himself content to just sit and do nothing. It was invigorating. 

“Are you going to help us, then?” Tieg asked. 

“Help you do what?” Hux asked. 

“Find him.”

“Find who?” 

“My father,” Tieg answered. 

“Boy, your father is dead.”

“Then how did he draw all of us here together? How are we having the same dream? You’re here for a reason. I think that… that World Between Worlds is Where he is. You can read Sith. Find out what it means,” Tieg demanded. 

Hux glanced up to see Rey coming toward them, carrying the remaining books Hux had brought with him. Hux knew the answer was somewhere in the Sith texts. He also knew he was the only one who could read them. Could he help these two bring his former enemy back from whatever purgatory the dark force had sent him to? Did he even want to?”


	4. 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey dreams of Ben and has a conversation with Anakin Skywalker. Hux grows impatient and pushes Teig to reach out to his father but someone else answers instead.

Rey was standing in the water. It came up to her waist. She twirled her fingers through it, amazed at how clear and blue it was. She could see her toes. She was naked. So was he, Ben, standing in the water behind her. She leaned back against him. His warm hands slid around her, cupping her breasts. She signed and closed her eyes. It had all been a dream, a very horrible dream. Ben was here with her. She could feel him, strong, solid, and real. 

“Ben,” she breathed as he slid his hands down over her stomach, making her quiver with the slight tickle of it. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her neck, lips warm, soft on her skin. The water was cool, but every inch of her body was hot and growing hotter still. He brushed a fingertip across her clit, and she jumped, an involuntary sigh escaping her lips as she ground back against him, feeling the unmistakable hardness of him on her buttocks. 

“Please,” she begged, and he gently lifted her tight to his body, pressing a finger inside, teasing her with it, giving her just a little, but nowhere near enough. “More,” she pleaded. 

“Rey,” he breathed against her ear. “Find me. Hurry…”  
***********************************8

“I don’t think it’s a place as much as a… I don’t know, a state of being?” 

“That doesn’t make any sense!”

Rey sat up slightly disorientated for a moment, trying to get her bearings. She struggled to hide her disappointment as she slid out of the cot, running her hands through her unruly hair, hopeful that she hadn’t been moaning like a whore in her sleep. 

“Damn it, boy! I’m trying to figure this out!” Hux got up from the cot where he’d been sitting with Tieg and tossed the old Sith text on the table, rubbing his eyes. “I’m not sure of anything. I wasn’t a follower of that dark religion. If we could find someone who was, maybe…”

“I know someone who was,” Rey spoke up. “I’ll try to reach out to him. Maybe he can help us.”

She slipped out of the hut, pausing at the firepit outside to light a torch, then started up the precarious path toward the sacred cave at the top of the mountain. 

“Where is she going?” Hux asked. 

“Up to the Jedi temple,” Teig answered, reaching for the book Hux had discarded.

“Why is she going there?” he asked, turning toward the boy. 

“I expect she’s going to try to contact Anakin Skywalker, my great grandfather,” Teig replied. 

“Holy hell,” Hux sighed, running his hand through his long red hair. “Are we so kriffing desperate we have to call upon the ghost of Darth fucking Vader?”

“He was a good man!” Teig protested.

“Oh, I suppose your going to tell me that at the moment of his death, he turned to the good side too?” Hux asked incredulously. 

“As a matter of fact, he did! Uncle Luke told me!” Teig exclaimed. 

“You talking to ghosts too?” Hux laughed, pushing the blanket aside and staring out into the darkness. 

“He visits my dreams sometimes. He doesn’t know why my father isn’t with them. My grandmother is there, Leia. She is so sad my father didn’t cross over to them. She doesn’t understand it either. They’ve been trying to figure it out, but they can only appear to us for short periods of time. It takes a lot of energy for them and it drains them too much.” 

Hux turned back toward the boy and was again struck by how much he resembled Kylo. “Teig, I know your father was a tortured soul, but you need to know that he did a lot of very bad things to a lot of innocent people. That’s not something that the world is going to just forget. If we do manage to somehow find him, it will be very hard for him to exist in this galaxy.”

“You mean like you? Hiding and running, always afraid someone will figure out who you are?” Teig asked. “There weren’t many people who actually knew that Ben Solo was Kylo Ren. Rey told me that.”

Hux sighed. “There weren’t that many people who saw him without his mask either. Most of the ones who did are dead now. I guess it might be easier for him than it is for me. It was my face all over the Holonet. I was the poster child for the First Order.”

“Starkiller,” Teig mumbled, his eyes closed as he drew the memories from Hux’s mind.

“Boy, I told you to stay the hell out of my head,” Hux turned and shoved the curtain aside, walking out into the darkness. He picked up a torch, lit it, and started up the trail toward the Jedi temple. 

Rey sat cross-legged inside the circle next to the sacred pool. “Be with me,” she mumbled, rising slowly off the ground and levitating just above the surface of the water. “Please, be with me.”

“Hello, little niece.”

Rey opened her eyes. Standing before her was a handsome young man with long blonde hair. He was very tall. The smirk at the corner of his mouth was so familiar. She’d seen it on Luke, on Leia, and on Ben’s face. 

“Anakin?” she asked, hesitantly.

“Yes, I heard you calling. I wanted to meet you.”

“What do you mean, niece?” she asked. 

Anakin sat down on the edge of the pool and beckoned to her to come down and join him. 

“Palpatine was my father through the force. My brother, his other son, was your father. That makes you my niece.” 

“That means… Rey struggled to understand the complicated family tree.

“Ben is your second cousin, but I wouldn’t worry too much about that,” Anakin assured her. 

Rey sat down beside him, slightly intimidated by his sheer size. Anakin was a big man, but then Ben had been a big man too.

“You wanted my help?” Anakin asked.

“Yes, what is The World Between Worlds?” she asked. 

Anakin frowned, “I don’t know exactly. It was rumored to be a kind of Sith hell that one could be trapped in forever like limbo. I never paid much stock to things like that. Why do you ask about that?”

“I think that’s where Ben is. Hux can read Sith and in one of Ben’s old Sith texts, there was something about it. Both he and Teig were drawn to that page. Hux thinks its not a place but rather a state of being.”

“I would have to agree with him. It’s not somewhere you can jump in a ship and fly to.”

“Then how do we find him?” Rey asked, almost fearful of the answer. 

“Does Ben contact you at all, Rey?” Anakin asked.

“Not really,” she confessed. “I dream about him sometimes, but it’s not like he’s telling me anything. I don’t think he can communicate very much.”

“That’s probable,” Anakin agreed. “What about the boy? Does he talk to the boy?”

“Teig? No, I mean Teig has dreams of Ben trapped somewhere. Hux had the same dreams but he never tells them anything.”

“Has the boy reached out?” Anakin asked. 

“No. I advised him not to,” Rey answered, scuffing the toe of her boot in the sand.

“Any special reason why you don’t want him to?”

“I’m afraid that something dark will answer and that it won’t be Ben. I can’t let the same thing happen to Teig that happened to Ben. I won’t’ let a dark monster get inside that boy’s head.”

“That’s noble of you, Rey, but if you want to find Ben, you may have to let the boy reach out. I’d say your best bet of finding him is for Teig to form a link with his mind.”

“Why can’t I be the one?” Rey protested. “We were a dyad in the force!”

“Rey, do you want Ben back?”

“Of course, I do!”

“Then let the boy try. Ben isn’t reaching out to you. He’s reaching out to Teig.”

Before Rey could protest further, Anakin was gone, and she was left alone in the empty temple. She drew her knees up and dropped her head down, crying silently. She’d known it was going to come to that, but she couldn’t help feeling totally helpless. When she felt a hand on her shoulder, she jumped and scooted away from the intrusion.

“I’m sorry,” Hux said as he knelt beside her. 

“You followed me?” she asked, wiping the tears away. 

“I wanted to see a ghost for myself,” he replied. 

“Did you? I mean see him that is?” she asked. 

“Yes, I saw him. I heard what he said. Don’t take it to heart, Rey. Maybe you can’t be the one to save him this time. Maybe it has to be Teig. Besides, what better way for the boy to learn about the force? When you first met Ren, he got in your head and that was how the force awakened inside you. It’s already awake in Teig. Imagine how strong he will be if he bonds with his father?”

Rey got up and dusted the sand from her clothes. “That’s exactly what I’m afraid of,” she answered.

It had been almost a week since Rey had her conversation with Anakin and she had yet to ask Teig to reach out to Ben. Hux couldn’t understand why, but he felt the pressing of time and was certain that the longer they waited, the harder it would be to find Ben. Rey had gone fishing with the caretakers and Teig was sitting beside the fire, poking it with a stick and humming to himself. Hux decided to take matters into his own hands. 

“Teig, come with me and be quick,” Hux ordered, reaching for the boy’s shoulder and yanking him up. 

“Where are we going,” Teig asked. 

“The temple,” Hux replied. 

“Why? I’m not supposed to go up there. Rey said not to.”

“Well, I’m taking you. Your grandfather… I mean Vader said you have to do something. Rey’s scared to tell you but I’m telling you now come on.”

They hurried up the path and into the quiet of the cave temple. Teig walked inside and paused beside the sacred pool. When he leaned close to it, the water vibrated. It made Hux uneasy, but he realized it was just the force reacting to a strong force user like Teig; someone with Skywalker blood.

“What am I supposed to do?” Teig asked. 

“Sit down in the middle of that circle, close your eyes and meditate. Reach out to your father. You know who he is now. You saw his face in Rey’s mind. You saw how he fell. Reach out to him. Call to him. Ask him how we can help him.”

Teig sat down and crossed his legs. He closed his eyes and let out a slow exhalation. Hux was immediately aware of a change in the environment. It became instantly heavy, like before a bad storm. The air was still, there was no sound of crickets or frogs or birds. They were in a cocoon, sealed away from the rest of the island. The sacred pool was vibrating, the pressure in the cave increased. Hux backed up against the wall and took a deep breath, aware of his heart rate escalating.

Teig began to levitate, rising above the sandy floor of the temple, his long dark hair blowing back from his face, his mouth in a tight line as he concentrated. The wind rushed through the room, blasting sand into Hux’s eyes. 

Rey suddenly appeared beside him. “What’s happening?” she cried and tried to run toward Teig. 

“No, let him be!” Hux demanded, holding her back although he knew she could easily use the force to break free from him, but she didn’t. 

Teig opened his mouth to speak, but the voice wasn’t his. The words he spoke were Sith, but Hux found that he could translate them. 

“The World Between Worlds… trapped, suspended, punished for breaking the Sith commands… Seek for the door to the darkness. Break the wall and draw forth…”

Suddenly Teig collapsed to the floor, the wind died down and the pressure returned to normal. Rey ran to him, lifting him into her lap and shaking him. 

“Teig!” she screamed, leaning over to check if he had a pulse. Teig stirred and sat up, looking around.

“What happened? How did I get here?” he asked. 

“Don’t you remember?” Hux asked, kneeling beside them.

“No, I mean I remember coming up here with you but… after that, it’s all kind of a blur.” 

“Did you reach him, your father?” Hux asked. “You spoke in a strange voice, but it wasn’t your voice and it wasn’t Ren’s either.”

“Stop calling him that!” Rey demanded. 

“We don’t have time for semantics!” Hux protested. “Ben, Ren, Kylo, who gives a damn. I need to know if he managed to reach his father!”

“I don’t think so. I did reach somebody though. It was a man. I think he said his name was… Revan.”

“Well, who in Sith hells is that?” Rey asked.

“Someone you need to avoid,” Hux answered although he wasn’t sure why he said it. “Come on, let’s get back to the hut and write down what he said. He helped Rey and Teig get to their feet and led them down the mountain. Teig seemed very tired after his ordeal and lay down to take a nap. 

Rey copied what they’d heard Teig say and Hux sat down at the desk to peruse the Sith texts. He had a feeling that they were on to something. 

“Seek for the door to the darkness, break down the wall, does that mean anything to you, Rey?” he asked. 

Rey was silent for a moment, then she frowned. I don’t know, it may be nothing, but back when I was training here with Master Luke, I was drawn to a place here on the island that was strong with the Darkside. There are places like that everywhere, even here. I got pulled down into a dark cave full of water and when I came to the surface, there was a wall, like ice but not cold. I touched it. I wanted the Darkside to show me my parents, but it showed me Ben instead. I didn’t know it was him on the other side reaching out to touch the wall, but it was him. I know it now.”

“Break down the wall… do you think?” Hux asked.

“I don’t know,” Rey sighed. 

“Well, there’s only one way to find out,” Hux answered. “When Teig wakes up, your taking us to that dark place. We’ll go to that wall. Maybe it’s the key.”

“Or maybe it will be a dead-end,” Rey sighed. 

Hux glanced past her at the last dying rays of the sun as it set behind the mountain. He couldn’t explain the feeling of hope that was bubbling up inside him. It had been so long since he’d had hope for anything, and now, he found that he was optimistic.

“Optimistic about pulling my worse enemy out of the jaws of hell,” he snickered to himself.


End file.
